Saturday, June 26, 2010

Why the Surge in Scandinavian Mysteries?

A book lover at Kingdom Books today asked, "Why do you think all these great mystery authors are suddenly writing in Scandinavia?"

My reply was quick: "Translation is finally catching up with them. They've been there all along, just like any other place."

But the real answer may be more complex than that. I found a web site and blog provided by Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, http://homepages.gac.edu/~fister/scandcrime, that suggest two factors: the caliber of crime fiction author Henning Mankell, and the 1986 assassination of Sweden's prime minister, with the cultural trauma this inflicted.

Discussion, anyone?

1 comment:

Harvee said...

Sounds like there could be at least 3 plausible reasons - translations, a good writer to follow, and the political situation, which seems to be the target in the Stieg Larsson trilogy.